Becoming Neuquino in Mapuzugun (Mapuche language): Teaching Mapuche Language and Culture in the Province of Neuquén, Argentina

SZULC, ANDREA

Anthropology & Education Quarterly

American Anthropological Association

Año: 2013

This article explores the sense of belonging promoted by the current program of Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (EIB) of the province of Neuquén for Mapuche children, examining the design and implementation of this program. The analysis reveals how this program reinforces a hegemonic definition of Mapuche identity, which relegates Mapuche culture to times past and to a rural setting. At the same time, the program subordinates the Mapuche identity to the provincial realm, and merges it with the Argentine and Catholic identities in supposed ´harmony.´  Initially published in 2009, this paper was selected by Sally Campbell Galman and Laura A. Valdiviezo for the Spetial Virtual Issue on Bilingual Education they edited in 2013. That virtual issue of Anthropology & Education Quarterly presents a cross-section of papers from recent issues of the journal that have presented research on the different aspects of what multilingual learners and bilingual education mean for curriculum, pedagogy, socialization, and acculturation. Some articles focus squarely on bilingual education, others on immigrants and English language learners in US schools, and several more on Indigenous languages and education in the US, Latin America, and Spain.